Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit against the Biden administration over a rule allegedly forcing private businesses and states to implement “transgender policies” “We are suing the Biden Administration over their rule forcing private businesses to implement ‘transgender policies.’ My office will continue to stand in the way of Joe Biden’s attempts to infringe on your freedom,” Paxton said. Breaking: We are suing the Biden Administration over their rule forcing private businesses to implement "transgender policies." My office will continue to stand in the way of Joe Biden's attempts to infringe on your freedom. https://t.co/g15RzAkcNY — Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 15, 2024 “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (‘EEOC’), U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, and other Biden Administration officials to halt an enforcement guidance that unlawfully seeks to require employers to implement ‘transgender’ mandates or risk being sued for discrimination or harassment,” a press release from Paxton’s office read. Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues Biden Administration Over Rule Forcing Private Businesses and States to Implement "Transgender" Policies: https://t.co/iuf1qBr7za — Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) August 15, 2024 Per Ken Paxton: On April 29, 2024, the EEOC issued an unlawful enforcement guidance by a split vote that purported to rewrite the workplace protections against sexual harassment in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to broaden the definition of “discrimination,” opening private and state employers up to EEOC lawsuits if they did not accommodate employees’ “gender identity” rather than biological sex. The guidance would force employers, both state and private, to use so-called “preferred pronouns,” allow biological males into women’s facilities, and abolish sex-specific workplace dress codes. The EEOC’s guidance relies on an intentional misrepresentation of the Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The EEOC has exceeded its statutory authority by issuing guidance that contradicts the law and violates the Administrative Procedure Act. Attorney General Paxton requested that the guidance be permanently enjoined and that the Biden Administration be prevented from enforcing any aspect of the rule. The Heritage Foundation is a co-plaintiff, joining Texas in this suit. “The Biden-Harris Administration is attempting yet again to rewrite federal law through undemocratic and illegal agency action. This time, they are unlawfully weaponizing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in an attempt to force private businesses and States to implement ‘transgender’ mandates—and Texas is suing to stop them,” Paxton said. “Heritage is proud to join the great state of Texas as co-plaintiff to fight another blatant abuse of federal power by the Biden/Harris Administration—the EEOC’s new harassment guidance. The EEOC has exceeded the limits Congress placed on their authority, violated the First Amendment, and placed women at risk with their new guidance. We are proud to be defending small businesses and American families from this illegal overreach,” Dan Mauler, General Counsel for The Heritage Foundation, commented. Heritage Foundation Joins Texas in Lawsuit Against Biden Administration for Violating First Amendment and Risking the Safety of Women via @Heritage https://t.co/1vmDnU0Dzi — Jay W. Richards (@DrJayRichards) August 15, 2024 The Texas Tribune reports: The lawsuit, which Texas filed along with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, is a continuation of Paxton’s legal challenges to the Biden administration’s gender-affirming policies. It is one of dozens of suits Texas has brought against the federal government since Biden stepped into the White House in January 2021, legal steps that seek to advance some of the highest-priority conservative issues of the day. In July, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk rejected an earlier request by Texas that it block the EEOC’s May guidance without ruling on the merits of the request, saying the state’s challenge required a new complaint because it was filed against a new document. The lawsuit on Thursday was that new complaint, and Paxton’s latest effort to stymie the Biden administration’s agenda. In 2021, Texas sued the Biden administration over earlier EEOC guidance on how to determine what constitutes harassment in the workplace. Those guidelines — which included many of the same directives as the agency’s May guidance — were implemented after the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Title VII of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employment discrimination on the basis of sex, applies to gay and transgender workers as well. In that 2021 lawsuit, Kacsmaryk ruled in Paxton’s favor, deciding that the Biden administration’s protections for LGBTQ employees went too far beyond the high court’s ruling. Paxton filed Thursday’s lawsuit again in Amarillo, where Kacsmaryk, an appointee of President Donald Trump, hears nearly all cases. Kacsmaryk was the first judge to be appointed directly from a religious liberty law firm. He previously worked at First Liberty, a Plano-based conservative Christian law firm, where he frequently litigated cases involving abortion, contraception and gender identity. Read the filing HERE.